


Janus

by peppermintquartz



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Episode Fix-It: s02e13 Mizumono, Hannibal makes his choice, M/M, Will makes his choice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 18:32:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4273617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppermintquartz/pseuds/peppermintquartz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Whimsy. That's how he will be caught,” said Dr du Maurier. Something in Will's face must have struck her fancy, because her lips curled with something very near to amusement. “Evidently, you disagree.”<br/>“Whimsy is a difficult predictor of human behavior.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Janus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DrJLecter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrJLecter/gifts).



> Prompt:  
> Will and Hannibal meet after they tell others that they are in love with each other.  
> I changed it slightly for a Mizumono Fix-It.  
> Thank you Salyiha for that wonderful Madancy picture for #SaveHannibal!

“Whimsy. That's how he will be caught,” said Dr du Maurier. Something in Will's face must have struck her fancy, because her lips curled with something very near to amusement. “Evidently, you disagree.”

Will worked his jaw briefly. He sought the words that would betray him the least. “Whimsy is a difficult predictor of human behavior.”

The blonde woman leaned forward, studying Will studying her. Then she smiled like a conspirator and said in a low voice, “I think we are both very aware that Hannibal Lecter is anything but human.”

Her gaze was too incisive. She knew Hannibal for what he was, she had to, or she wouldn't have fled. Will found his fingers clenching the manila folder like his life depended on it. With a curt nod at her, he stood and headed to the door, out into where he wouldn't be interrogated by that cool, dispassionate gaze.

His breathing was shallow despite his best efforts to control his racing pulse.

“Mr Graham,” said Dr du Maurier, stopping him as he grabbed the door handle, “love is as difficult as whimsy, and far more destructive. Be careful.”

He did not look at her. He did not slam the door.

*****

“She's implying that Hannibal Lecter loves you.” Jack made it a statement of fact. His dark eyes bore into Will. “Is she correct?”

“He feels close to me, because I understand him and can empathize with him,” he replied. “I don't know if that is what accounts for love in his lexicon of human emotions. It could be.”

_I feel close to him, because he understands me and can empathize with me._

_I don't know it that is what accounts for love in my lexicon of human emotions._

_It could be._

The air was too thick. Will needed to breathe, and knew he would not be able to inhale until everything was resolved. He looked down, at his hands, and wondered again how they would feel, wrapped around Hannibal's throat. Or Hannibal's hands, around Will's throat, driving air from his lungs.

Until this was... resolved.

Jack's frown deepened. “Can we use it?”

Will stopped staring at the creases of the knuckle of his left thumb. “Use... what?”

“His feelings for you.”

“We already are, Jack.” Will got up from his seat. He needed to breathe, he needed to breathe so badly, because the words threatened to spill from his mouth. “I'll see you at Hannibal's at seven.”

*****

As he emerged from the shower, Will caught sight of the gym bag he had put together after the other night. To leave it here or to take it with him?

Even as he put on fresh clothes for dinner, he had not come to a decision.

_I need fresh air._

*****

For all their planning, Will hadn't expected Kade Prurnell to step in just before the operation.

“ _They're going to arrest you,”_ said Alana, sounding worn and worried. So much less than what she usually was. _“They're going to arrest Jack.”_

The dogs started barking. Will glanced out the window, saw twin beams of light winding down the path to his place. He grabbed his gun with his free hand and said, “Goodbye, Alana.”

Then a quick grab for his other essentials, and out the back door, into the woods he knew like the back of his hand.

*****

Will arrived just as paramedics were pulling away. Instead of going up to the house, he stayed in the shadows, in the rain. He had seen Alana standing beside the door, her face pale and her mien of one who had seen a monster rise from fathomless depths.

But she wasn't dead, and that gave him a brief flare of gratitude. It could have been so much worse, so much more guilt for his already-burdened conscience, made it so much harder to breathe in the dark watches of future nights.

He hoped the paramedics had been in time for Jack. Or that Jack at least managed to bid farewell to Bella.

They both deserved that much.

He turned and walked away, hoping his next destination was the right guess.

*****

The door wasn't locked.

He heard them from the corridor.

Dr du Maurier and Hannibal.

So Hannibal had a key to her house. He used to be intimate with her then – he had to be, there was no other reason why Dr du Maurier would give him a key – which would explain why she thought Hannibal was in love with him.

Will swallowed and waited.

“What did you do with Will Graham?” she asked.

“I did not see him,” Hannibal said, and the hurt that was woven into every strand of every word stabbed needle-sharp into Will's heart. “He made his choice, in the end.”

“There was a time you would have disregarded his choices.”

“That time has long passed.”

“You love him.”

A pause, heavy as a mountain. Will held his breath.

Finally, Hannibal said, “Yes.”

If Hannibal had been less resolved, if Hannibal had demurred in any way, if Hannibal had started on any psychoanalytical discussions of the concept of love, Will would not have done what he did.

He walked into the room.

He pointed his gun at Dr du Maurier.

If she was startled by his appearance and the weapon, she managed to remained composed enough to keep her own gun trained on Hannibal. “Mr Graham.”

He ignored her, “Hannibal.”

Hannibal buttoned up his shirt. “Will.”

It was the way Hannibal said his name that decided Will. As he let his gym bag fall to the floor with a wet sound, he asked, “Dr du Maurier, do I have to shoot you?”

“If you had wanted to shoot me, you would have done so already.” Her placid tone belied the faint tremor of her other hand, and she took a sip of her brandy.

“What I have to do,” said Will, looking back at Hannibal, “isn't always what I want to do.”

Hannibal watched them both, and then came over to Will. Heat radiated from him, like a furnace; his voice was soft like thunder in Will's veins. “You have no need to shoot her.”

“No, I don't,” Will murmured, and fired.

She didn't even have time to be surprised.

Then he dropped the gun and pulled Hannibal close, kissing him full on the lips, hunger and yearning and apologies pouring out from his lips without a word. He had longed to do this, from the moment he killed and displayed Randall Tier, longed to surrender to the darkness swarming beneath his skin. And now he yielded willingly.

Hannibal returned the kiss with just as much fervor, his sharp teeth threatening to rip Will's lower lip, his tongue hot and demanding, his hands roaming with selfish possessiveness over Will's drenched form.

It didn't matter that he was soaking wet from the rain, that they were both about to go on the run, that this could only end in blood and death for one or both of them.

Here and now, Will knew what he had to do, and what he wanted to do. He said as much to Hannibal, a hoarse whisper against a stubbled jaw.

“Later,” Hannibal murmured against Will's ear. “Change into a clean shirt, beloved, and we shall go, now. Secure our freedom.”

“Where to?”

“Does it matter?” Hannibal asked, a small smile around his eyes. “Where we go, we go together.”

Will took a deep breath. _Finally. Finally._ “Yes. Together.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Janus, Roman god of doorways, endings & beginnings.
> 
> If you're reading this, thank you. If you have Twitter, please join the #SaveHannibal campaign! Look for me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kt_adrienne)


End file.
